Upright-piano action.



No. 757,657. v PATENTED APR. 19, 1904. P HAMMERLB. UPRIGHT PIANO ACTION.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 10, 1903.

no MODEL.

Patented April 19, 1904.

UNITE STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANZ HAMMERLE, OF MELROSE, MASSACHUSETTS.

UPRIGHT-PIANO ACTION.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 757,657, dated April 19, 1904.

' Application filed September 10, 1903. Serial No. 172,688. (No model.)

' To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANZ HAMMERLE, of Melrose, in the county or Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Lost-Motion Attachments in Upright-Piano Actions, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in lost-motion attachments in upright-piano actions; and it has for its objects to provide an attachment which when the attachment is in operation will cause the various parts which act to operate the hammers to have the same relative positions as before the attachment was put into operation, and thus reduce the lost motion in operating the keys to a minimum, which will produce a uniform, light, and elastic touch when the keys are operated, which will allow of a very rapid repetition of the note, and to otherwise improve the attachment, as will be understood by the complete description of the device herein contained.

The invention consists of the novel construction, arrangement, and combinations of parts, as will be fully described hereinafter, and particularly set forth in the claims annexed hereto, and it is carried out substantially as illustrated on the accompanying drawings, which form an essential part of this specification,and whereon like characters of reference refer to like parts wherever they occur on the drawings.

On the drawings, Figure 1 represents a vertical section of the action of an upright piano provided with my improved lost-motion attachment, showing the key in its normal position and the lost-motion attachment not in operation. Fig. 2 represents a similar section of the action to that shown in Fig. 1, but showing the key depressed, the lost-motion attachment in operation, and the hammer in position at the time when it is in contact with and striking the stringof the piano.

relative positions when the lost-motion attachment is in operation.

Upon the key-bed 1 are mounted the keys 2 2 in the usual manner. Action-brackets 3 are secured in place in any suitable and wellknown manner, only one of said brackets having been shownupon the drawings. A springrail L, which rail acts also to form a stop to the forward movement of the damper when required, an upper action-rail 5, and a lower action-rail 6 are firmly secured to the actionbrackets in the usual manner,and the hammerrail 7 is pivotally attached to said brackets, as at 8, so that said hammer rail may be turned to vary the amount of the movements of the hammers 9 .9, as will be understood by the complete description herein contained. The hammer-butts 10, with their attached hammers 9 and bumpers 11, are pivotally attached to the upper action-rail 5 in any common and well-known manner, and the hammer-butts are operatedupon by the hammer-springs 12 so that the hammers will normally be drawn forward from contact with the string or wire 13, said hammers being limited in their forward movements by the hammer-rail 7, the position of which may be varied by the pivotal connection of the hammer-rail to the action-brackets, as above described.

The damper-levers 1 1, with their attached dampers 15, are also pivotally attached to the upper action-rail 5 in such a manner that they may be brought into contact with the strings 13 or be drawn forward from contact with said strings, as desired; but they are normally held in contact with the strings by means of the damper-springs 16.

J ack-levers 17, with jack-flies 18 pivotally attached thereto, are themselves attached to the lower part of the upper action-rail 5 in such a manner that they are free to be oscillated upon their fulcra from the position shown in Fig. 1 to the position shown in Fig. 2, and thereby to cause their attached jacks, which are normally held under a portion of the hammer-butts with a yielding pressure, to operate said hammer butts, and thereby cause the hammers to strike the strings and rebound to positions a slight distance in front of the strings, usual in upright-piano actions. The jack-levers also carry the back checks 19 for the bumpers, and they also carry the rods 20, to which the front ends ofthe martingales 21 are attached, the opposite ends of the martingales preferably passing through perforations in the bumpers and being attached to the hammer-butts.

A regulating-rail 22, carrying an adjustable regulator 23 for each jack-fly 18, is attached to the front of the upper action-rail 5 in such a position that the regulators will engage the jack-flies and by moving the upper end of the same forward will vary the distance the hammers will rebound after they have struck the strings and prod need the note desired.

Spoons 24% are carried upon the jack-levers 17 in such a manner that they engage the damper-levers and properly operate the dampers against the influence of their springs 16.

The above-described parts of the action form no essential part of my present invention, and other equivalent and well-known parts may be substituted therefor without departing from the spirit of my invention, which relates to the construction of the connections between the jack-levers 17 and the keys 2 and by which the jack-levers are operated by the depression and release of the keys and to the mechanisms controlling such connections.

The abstracts or stickers 25 have their lower ends resting upon regulating screws 26, screwed into the keys 2. Links 27 connect the lower ends or parts of the abstracts to the lower action-rail 6 in such a manner that the abstracts are free to be moved up or down, as desired, said links acting to keep the lower ends of the abstracts upon their regulatingscrews 26. The upper ends of the abstracts are connected to the jack-levers by means of sliding or telescopic connections, which are preferably made by means of pins or projecti ons 28 from the upper ends of the abstracts, which enter holes or recesses 29 on the under surfaces of the jack-levers 17, as shown in detail in Figs. at and 5. By this construction of the connections between the uppcrends of the abstracts and the jack-levers 1 am able to raise or move the free ends of the jack-levers independent of the abstracts.

Auxiliary abstracts or extensions 30 are pivotally attached at their upper ends to the jacklevers and have their lower ends pivotally attached to adjustable adjusting-levers 31, as shown. The rear ends of the adjusting-levers are pivotally attached to the abstracts, and the forward ends of said levers normally rest loosely upon a rail or bar 32. This rail 32 is adjustably attached, by means of the connectingrods 33, to the hammer-rail 7, so that when the hammer-rail is raised and turned upon its pivots 8 by the operation of the soft-pedal rod 3 L to lessen the movement-s of the hammers, and thus reduce the sound produced by the hammers in striking the strings, it will also cause the rail 32 to be raised. The rail 32 is also pivotally attached to the upper action-rail 5 or to projections 35 from said action-rail by means of the connecting rods or links 36, as shown and for a purpose to be understood, as they guide the rail when it is raised or lowered. This raising of the hammer-rail and turning of the hammer and hammer-butts upon their pivots, so as to lessen the movements of thehammers when operated by the keys, would have a tendency to withdraw the hammer-butts from contact with the jacks 18, and consequently there would be a tendency to have a certain amount of lost motion of the keys in moving the jacks upward into engagement with the hammer-butts in order to move the hammers; but this tendency to lost motion is obviated by my improved device, as hereinafter described. By the introduction of the auxiliary abstracts their attached adjusting-levers and the rail upon which the adjusting-levers rest and which is operated with the hammenrail the jacks are caused to follow up the movement of the hammer-butts and to keep in contact with said hammer-butts. Thus this tendency to lost motion between the jacks and the hammer-butts is obviated, as the depression of the key when the soft pedal is depressed and the lost-motion attachment is in operation acts lirst to turn the adjusting-lever 31 upon its point of contact, with the rail 32 as a fulcrum, and by means of the connection of the adjusting-lever and jack-lever by the auxiliary abstract causes the jack 18 to move upward and to operate the hammer. The jack continues to be moved upward in this manner until the upper end of the abstract comes into contact with the under surface of the jack-lever, when a continued operation of the key will cause a continued upward movement of the jack and will cause the parts to assume the position shown in Fig. 2, in which the hammer has been shown in the position which it occupies at the instant when it is striking the string, but from which position it immediately rebounds until stopped by the bmnper 11 coming into contact with the back check .19.

The operation of my improved lostanotion attachment is substantially as follows: \Vith the various parts in their normal positions, as shown in Figs. 1, 3, and 4., in which posi tions the hammers will be given their greatest movements when the keys are operated, and it is desired to obtain a shorter movement of the hammers, and consequently less intensity to the sound produced by the hammers when they strike the strings of the piano, the person depresses the soft pedal, which will cause the hammer-rail to be raised and turned upon its pivotal connections to the brackets. This movement of the hammer-rail will turn the hammers and hammer-butts upon their connection to the upper action-rail and will cause the rail 32 to also move upward, thus causing substantially an extension of the abstracts by changing the positions of the adjusting-levers, the auxiliary abstracts, and the jack-levers from the positions shown in Fig. 4 to the positions shown in Fig. 5. This movement of the parts will cause the jack-levers to move upward upon the telescopic connections between them and the abstracts and from contact with the tops of the abstracts, as shown in Fig. 5, thus keeping the upper ends of the jacks carried by the jack-levers in contact with the hammer-butts similar to the positions of the abstracts and hammerbutts shown in Fig. 1. If'the person then depresses a key, he will immediately begin to move the hammer toward the string, the first part of the movement being made by the turning of the adjusting-lever upon its fulcrum on the rail 32, and this movement will continue until the upper end of the abstract comes into contact with the under surface of the jack-lever, when the remainder of the movement will be made by the abstract pressing directly against the under surface of the jacklever as when the lost-motion attachment is not in operation.

It will thus be seen that by the construction and operation of my improved lost-motion attachment the touch on the key when playing upon a piano will be the same when the lostmotion attachment is in operation as when it is not in operation, that the touch will be very elastic and easy, and that by keeping the jacks always in contact with the hammer-butts it will be possible to produce a very rapid repe- I tition of the notes either while the lost-motion attachment is in operation or not.

Having thus fully described the nature, construction, and the operation of my invention, I wish to secure by Letters Patent and to claim-- 1. An upright piano, having hammers, jacklevers, and devices operated by the oscillations of said jack-levers to operate the hammers to produce notes, abstracts interposed between the jack-levers and the keys of the piano, said abstracts connected to the jack-levers by a telescopic connection, adjusting-levers pivot all y attached at one end to the abstracts, a rail moved bodily up and down by the operation of a pedal and supporting the opposite ends 'of the adjusting-levers, and auxiliary abstracts pivotally connecting the jack-levers to the adjusting-levers forming extensions of the abstracts when said pedal is pressed downward.

2. An upright piano, having keys, hammers, jack-levers, and devices operated by the oscillations of said jack-levers to operate the hammers to produce anote upon the strings of the piano, abstracts interposed between the jack-lever and the keys, pins on the abstracts entering recesses in the under surface of the jack-levers forming telescopic connections between the abstracts and the jack-levers, adjusting-levers pivotally attached at one end to the abstracts, a rail moved bodily up and down by the operation of a pedal and supporting the opposite ends of the adj Listing-levers, and auxiliary abstracts pivotally connecting the jack-levers to the adjusting-levers forming extensions of the abstracts when said pedal is depressed.

3. In an upright-piano action, a movable hammer-rail to vary the movements of the hammers, a lost-motion attachment consisting of a rail connected to and moved with the hammer-rail when moved to vary the movements of the hammers, adjusting-levers resting upon the said rail which is connected to the hammer-rail, said adjusting-levers pivotally connected to the abstracts by which the keysare connected to the hammer-operating devices, auxiliary abstracts pivotally connected to the adjusting-levers and to the jacklevers of the action, and a telescopic connection between the abstracts and the jack-levers allowing of movements of the jack-levers independent of the abstracts.

4. In an upright-piano action, abstracts introduced between the keys and the mechanisms to operate the hammers, combined with adjusting-levers pivotally attached to the abstracts, auxiliary abstracts pivotally attached to the adjusting-levers and to the hammeroperating mechanisms, and a rail supporting the free ends of the adjusting-levers and operated by the soft pedal, said auxiliary abstracts forming substantially extensions of the abstracts when the soft pedal is depressed.

In testimony whereof I have aflixed my signature in presence of two witnesses.

FRANZ HAMMERLE. 

